The best (and not-so-great) NHL free agents for teams to ponder signing July 5

Come Friday, NHL teams are once again allowed to back up dump-trucks full of money and funnel them into players pockets.

And come the end of next season, we will see more guys getting cut or traded or sent out of town because GMs cry to themselves, “What have I done signing (insert name of overpaid millionaire athlete who isn’t earning his keep) to such a long contract!”

We know this scenario will come to pass; these guys cannot help themselves. But this day is great fun for NHL fans who ponder and dream the possibilities every free-agent day. It is like Christmas in summer.

What used to happen each year on Canada Day (how appropriate) now takes place on a business day, which makes more sense in terms of TV coverage.

Here is a look at some of the more interesting players available, starting in the middle of the ice.

With the recent agreement between Vincent Lecavalier and the Philadelphia Flyers, the marquee centre was removed from the free-agent pool, but there are some interesting names out there for teams looking to shore up the middle (Hello Toronto Maple Leafs!).

Mikhail Grabovski was bought out of his massive deal ($27.5 million for five years) by the Leafs Thursday and joins Stephen Weiss, Tyler Bozak and Mike Ribeiro as centres who could help teams looking for an upgrade. The Leafs are rumoured to be considering all of these players, but a number of other teams could use their service. All of these guys are similar talent-wise.

Valtteri Filppula has a boatload of skill and might be able to post bigger numbers higher up in a teams depth chart, freed from being behind the top two players on the Detroit Red Wings: Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg.

(The free agents are broken into four categories of effectiveness for the purposes of this discussion : Veteran, Candidate for Future Buyout, Good Value and Also-Ran.)

Centres and projected outcomes

Grabovski ($5.5 milion cap hit last season, Good Value)

Weiss ($3.1 million, Candidate for Future Buyout)

Bozak ($1.5 million, CFB)

Ribeiro ($5 million, Veteran)

Filppula ($3 million, GV)

On the wing, Jarome Iginla and Daniel Briere sit at the top of the list of veterans, but each are on the downside of their careers, more near the bottom of the hill than anyplace else. Either one would be a good choice for a team looking for a final piece of a Stanley Cup run. Iginla scored 12 points for the Penguins in their 15-games worth of playoffs, but he was only a small part of an ultimately over-rated Pittsburgh team who wasn’t truly ready to challenge for the Cup.

The player who might cash in most is the Bruins Nathan Horton, who went to two Cup finals in the last three years and now for some strange reason wants to go to a lesser hockey market. Guess that rules out Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal eh Horton? He was spotted in a non-traditional market this week during the courtship period.

David Clarkson is expected to sign somewhere other than New Jersey and some big numbers have been thrown around for his future.

The ageless one Jaromir Jagr is another interesting name who is a free agent. He played astonishingly well for the Bruins during their 22-game run, but only scored 10 assists with no goals. He is still impossible to push off the puck, but his formerly laser-like precision scoring has abandoned him. Can he keep it up during a full 82-game season and many weeks of a playoff grind? Remember he is 41 and spent three years in Europe away (hiding?) from the rigours of NHL hockey.

Daniel Alfredsson is expected to sign with the Ottawa Senators. The old Swede still has some gas left in the old Volvo.

Melnyk has given Murray the green light to sign a free agent and to re-sign Alfredsson #Sens#cbcott

On the back end, available defenceman include Andrew Ference, Keith Ballard, Rob Scuderi, Mike Komisarek and Ryan Whitney are all eager to sign with a team. Not exactly a murderer’s row here, as NHL teams tend to cling onto their home-grown D-men like grim death. Last year’s case of Ryan Suter being available as a free agent, was rare and due to the Shea Weber mega-deal situation; Nashville could only afford one superstar on the roster.

Defencemen and projected outcomes

Ference ($2.25 million, GV)

Ballard ($4.2 million, V)

Scuderi ($3.4 million, GV)

Komisarek ($4.5 million, Also-Ran)

Whitney ($4 million, V)

Finally in net, there are a few goalies available, but none that jump out as franchise material. Ilya Bryzgalov is a free agent, but will anybody want to take a chance? He could earn a ton of rubles playing in his native Russia, and wouldn’t have to face the North American media anymore, with their annoying questions about stopping shots and conditioning. Instead, they could talk about Russian politics and the space program.

Speaking of nutbars, did you hear Tim Thomas wants to return to the NHL? For his sake, he should sign with a poor team, so he has no chance of ever being called to the White House. He is 39 but he could help in a backup role. Rick DiPietro is available after being cut loose, as is Nikolai Khabibulin after Devan Dubnyk appears to own the Oilers net.

I believe that #TimThomas has the goods to regain his high level of goaltending. I wonder which g.m. agrees with me.